Tata, Zica

The Indian carmaker Tata Motors has decided to change the name of its heavily promoted new car, the Zica, to avoid association with alarm about the spread of the Zika virus.

Tata announced it would choose a new name for the car a day after the World Health Organisation declared Zika a global emergency. Tata has not yet revealed what the name will be.

The change comes too late for the launch of the car at the Auto Expo in New Delhi on Wednesday, where it will still carry the Zica label. Tata had chosen the name as an abbreviation of “zippy car”.

But the explosive spread of the Zika virus, which has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly, posed an awkward homophone problem for Tata’s marketing team. The scale of the spread of the Zika virus only became apparent after Tata launched a big marketing campaign for the Zica, including adverts featuring footage of footballer Lionel Messi.

In a statement announcing the rebranding, Tata said: “Empathising with the hardships being caused by the recent Zika virus outbreak across many countries, Tata Motors, as a socially responsible company, has decided to rebrand the car.”

5 comments:

Tata makes Jaguars. There's also the slogan for breast cancer awareness, Save The Tatas. I recall seeing a flyer for a talk by a Korean named Bum Suk Lee. How many English words sound funny to other-language speakers? (I got over it.)

Keep the name. Women still wear bikinis in spite of the stigma. People get vehicles from General Motors, gas from Standard Oil, and a host of other strange names. As a speaker I know once said, if what I have to say is worth hearing, this leasure suit won't take away from the message. But if what I have to say is not, a Suit from Hart Schaefer and Marks won't save me.

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I live in Poca, West Virginia, with my lovely wife of 40 years, Lou Ann. I am an Army veteran and Cleveland State graduate. I retired after 40 years as a newspaperman. In 2016, I published "Trump the Press," which drew rave reviews at Power Line and Instapundit.